"Revolution Hits the Universities"

Oregon’s legislature will convene on February 4th. Representative Michael Dembrow will chair the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee. Dembrow recently told me the committee would hold hearings on online education in higher ed. We will see.

From the NY Times column “Revolution Hits the Universities” by Thomas Friedman (here)

…. As we look to the future of higher education, said the M.I.T. president, L. Rafael Reif, something that we now call a “degree” will be a concept “connected with bricks and mortar” — and traditional on-campus experiences that will increasingly leverage technology and the Internet to enhance classroom and laboratory work. Alongside that, though, said Reif, many universities will offer online courses to students anywhere in the world, in which they will earn “credentials” — certificates that testify that they have done the work and passed all the exams. The process of developing credible credentials that verify that the student has adequately mastered the subject — and did not cheat — and can be counted on by employers is still being perfected by all the MOOCs. But once it is, this phenomenon will really scale.

I can see a day soon where you’ll create your own college degree by taking the best online courses from the best professors from around the world — some computing from Stanford, some entrepreneurship from Wharton, some ethics from Brandeis, some literature from Edinburgh — paying only the nominal fee for the certificates of completion. It will change teaching, learning and the pathway to employment. “There is a new world unfolding,” said Reif, “and everyone will have to adapt.”

Yes, higher ed in Oregon will have to adapt too. Hopefully we will get a good airing of what is now happening in Oregon and how Oregon higher ed proposes to adapt.

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